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Last week’s message at Christ Fellowship was on prayer and the main passage used was Jeremiah 33:3 where God says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” God is telling us – commanding us – to call on Him, to pray to Him and when we do, He will tell us what He wants us to know. But all through the Bible we read of times when it seemed like God just wasn’t speaking. His will was not clear and so the people would add fasting to their prayers to help them hear from God.

We are coming up on a year of being in the auction house now and we are still very grateful to God and the Cantrells for providing it. Seriously, I don’t know what we would do if not for their generosity and we are very thankful. But I am and have been praying for our own place to worship, a place we can stay and call our own permanently. But this is one of those times when God has chosen not to answer those prayers like we want. He continues to say, “Wait.”

So, I’m asking you to join me in fasting just one meal this weekend and to spend that time we would be eating instead praying and communicating with God especially in this matter of a building for our church. You pick the meal and the day but sometime this weekend, let’s spend some extra time just asking for God’s undeserved blessings on His bride, the church. Ask Him to give us wisdom and insight and unity on where we should go next. And spend some time just listening as well. And I know He will tell us great and unsearchable things we do not know.

We start a new sermon series this Sunday on where we all struggle and this Sunday will be on the struggle of faith itself looking at Abram in Genesis 15. I can’t wait to see you! I love you all! — Todd

Every now and then our church building just needs a good cleaning. It’s not very big so it doesn’t take long to get dirty but since it’s not very big it doesn’t take long to clean either. So, we decided that tomorrow night, Tuesday the 9th, at about 6:30 would be the best time. We have all kinds of cleaning supplies there at the building but if you have something you really like, please bring it. With a few people to help we can get it done in less than an hour so if you can help, we would really appreciate it! Thank you, Christ Fellowship church family! I love you all! — Todd

Tomorrow, Saturday the 6th, is the memorial service for Ralph’s brother, Michael Messier, at Christ Fellowship. Start time is 11 am. It is open to all and all are welcome to attend. It will be just a brief celebration of life to honor Michael and help bring closure to the family. I know the family would appreciate your attendance.

Grief has always been a part of life. Most of you have been through at least some part of the grief process. If you haven’t, you will sooner or later. And there is nothing wrong with grieving in and of itself. It is actually part of the healing process. We grieve for any number of reasons. We may lose a loved one or a job or a pet and what may seem like a minor thing to some people is a huge loss for others. That’s part of grieving. Everybody does it differently and nobody does it right or wrong necessarily. It is ultimately a private issue but God has given us a church family to help deal with grief. And I wonder lots of times how people do it who don’t have a church family.

But the difference in Christians and non-Christians is that we have hope.  First Thessalonians 4:13–14 says, “Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” And the hope we have is through Jesus that because of His sacrifice for us, we will see our loved ones again in Heaven where there will be no more tears and no more pain. So, don’t try to escape grief. it comes for all of us. But we don’t live there now and we won’t live there in eternity. Thank you, Lord!

I’ll see you all Sunday at 10. I love you. — Todd

As we continue our sermon series on sanctification, this Sunday at Christ Fellowship we will study the Lord’s Supper or Communion as some call it. As you know, sanctification is the process by which God molds us and shapes us to be more and more like Jesus. We have seen that sanctification starts the moment we are saved and continues with baptism. Then last week we saw the vital link that the church plays in that sanctification. This Sunday we will see how the Lord’s Supper fits in as well. 

Please make your plans to be here as we are obedient to Jesus by looking back at the sacrifice He made for us but also looking forward to His return. Make those plans starting Saturday night by being prayed up and rested up ready to worship this Sunday morning. I can’t wait and if you are reading this, I hope to see you there. I love you all! — Todd

So, I did some research – I Googled it – to find out what the geniuses on the interwebs thought about the decline of church attendance in America. Here is a sample of what they said. “Reasons behind church attendance decline are varied and multi-layered, but a few main culprits include shifting cultural values, busier schedules, generational changes, lack of engagement, and scandal-plagued institutions.” Sounds to me like people are more easily offended and just don’t care like they used to.

I really believe it has more to do with a misunderstanding of the purpose of church. Let’s talk about that this coming Sunday morning and evening at Christ Fellowship. And hopefully you will understand better why I always say that you need the church and the church needs you! I love you all! — Todd

In Matthew 28:19, we see the Great Commission where Jesus tells us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” As we continue our in-depth study of what it means to be sanctified, the first place we start is to be baptized. That is the first thing we do to separate ourselves from the world. I assume most people reading this have at one time been baptized. But do you know where it started and what it means? Should we be baptized more than once? Is it part of what we do to get to Heaven? Why was Jesus baptized? Is it the same as sprinkling? Why does “baptism” have an “s” but “baptize” has a “z”? 🙂 What other questions do you have about baptism? We will study this further this Sunday at Christ Fellowship. I sure hope you can be there. You will be missed if you aren’t!

Also, this is auction weekend at our building so that means that after the auction is over Saturday afternoon, some of us have to put all of our stuff back into the building. If you would be available to help with that, would you please let me know? It is difficult for just 2-3 guys to do it and even a little more help would be great! 

I love you all! — Todd

Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” How many of you would say you are ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Probably none of us would say that. But I want you to think back to the last time you told someone the Gospel. Think back to the last time you presented the way to Heaven to somebody. What scriptures did you use? Or maybe you just gave your testimony about what your life was like before you met Jesus, how you met Jesus, and what your life has been like since. Has it been a while? Have you ever done it?

We will end our sermon series on witnessing and sharing the Gospel this Sunday with one more method, the invitational method. It comes from the woman at the well in John 4 whose method of evangelism was simply to say, “Hey, y’all come see Jesus!” (That’s from the New Texas Version, btw.) That and her one sentence testimony is really about all she said and the scripture says that, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed…”

Don’t you wish that could be said of your town? Do you want it bad enough to tell somebody else the Good News of what Jesus has done in your life? Let’s talk more about it Sunday morning and Sunday night at Christ Fellowship.

I love you all and can’t wait to see you. You need the church and the church needs you. — Todd

Yes, it’s Friday but I have better news than that. As I write this, Melinda Messier is headed to the hospital to get her other knee replaced. She had one done a couple of months ago and recovered nicely. Now, with this one done her doctor says she should be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I think she will be happy with less pain when she walks. But please remember her and Ralph in your prayers especially this morning but also as she recovers.

Good news #2 is that Heather Montoya (Macie’s mama 🙂 ) has decided she is ready to get baptized and wants to do it right away. I talked with Heather some time ago about her salvation experience and what scripture says about baptism and she understands and wants to be obedient to God in this as soon as possible. So, this Sunday morning after church, all of us at Christ Fellowship will go to Wise County Park and do exactly what Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 28 where He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

So, please make plans to join us at the park this Sunday. It won’t take long and I know Heather would appreciate your support in this. Thank you, Lord, for working in our church!

I love you all! — Todd

This Sunday at Christ Fellowship, we are continuing our sermon series on how to share the Gospel using the talents, gifts and personalities that God has given us. And this week, we come to one of our favorite men in scripture, the man born blind. John chapter 9 is a fun chapter to read to me. Jesus heals a blind man and then the man gives his brief testimony. There is a lot to learn from just that. And we will be encouraged to be able to give our testimonies that are brief and point to Jesus, not glorify ourselves.

So, here’s an idea. I get letters from guys in jail all the time asking me why nobody else writes them. And I don’t know how to answer that question. We say we are the church that ministers to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. Maybe you just don’t know what to say. So, just tell them your testimony. Tell them very briefly what your life was like before you met Jesus, how you came to meet Jesus and then what your life has been like since. It doesn’t have to be long. It shouldn’t be long. Just hit the high points. Maybe 5-6 sentences. The blind man told his testimony in just 2 or 3. (verse 25) You can do that!

So I have attached a copy of our list of inmates to this email. Of course you don’t have to write them all. Just pick one or two. Write them and tell them your quick story or even just your favorite Bible verse. A letter from you will absolutely make their day and more! Please write! And I’ll see you Sunday at Christ Fellowship. I love you all! — Todd

We have had a request here at Christ Fellowship to help a lady in Bridgeport move her things from one apartment to another in the same building. I believe years ago we helped this same lady get moved in. Now she just needs some muscles to help her move 8-10 pieces of furniture and some boxes to another part of the building. Her name is Amelia and her address is (Call Todd for the address). She is moving from apartment 10 to 2. We will meet at 9 am tomorrow morning (Saturday) and she will be very grateful for your help!

In telling people the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus, the Holy Spirit uses our personalities and God-given talents to share with people like only we can to people that only we can. One of the ways He uses us is the intellectual method. When we need to talk to people who are very smart, we need to understand that smart people want to be smarter. They want to learn something. And they want to have hope. Let’s learn from Paul how to use this approach from Acts 17 this Sunday.

I’m praying for you. I love you and I can’t wait to see you Sunday morning and evening! — Todd